Symbolic Universe

He was asked to lead a seminar for urban youth. A young lady walked in just as it was about to start and asked what the topic would be. When he told her it was about how to survive in the city, she immediately replied, “Oh, that’s easy! You only need three things—a gun, a condom and a Bible.”

This young urban prophet was expressing what Ben Beltran calls the “symbolic universe”—the narrative structure of the soul that holds us together and makes meaning of life. In fact, the Latin word symbolum literally means, “to hold together.” If we can resist judgment and listen, the young woman is saying something profound. She lives in a world where guns, condoms and bibles are equally valid tools of survival depending on the situation. Her insight deserves our consideration and a Gospel that can speak meaningfully into her reality.

In this week’s text, Satan meets Jesus in the desert to discuss the symbolic universe of Israel. Satan chooses the elemental symbols of life—bread, crown and temple. With just a little imagination perhaps we can see how bread, crown and temple are symbols that represent the economic, political and religious systems by which society functions. When seen this way, the temptations are not merely about personal sins of the flesh, but the narrative structure of life itself. Which story will we tell?

Bread: Economics of Scarcity or Abundance?
Satan tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread. Jesus resists and insists that God’s economy is one of abundance not scarcity. Even though he is alone in a desert filled with nothing but sand and rocks, he does not react in fear; Jesus trusts there is more than enough bread for all if we can only see it. In fact, later in the Gospels Jesus feeds five thousand to prove the point, and ultimately he is revealed as the bread of life that we celebrate at communion—a table open to all where there is always enough. In fact, there is more than enough. This is God’s economy. 

Crown: Politics of Fear or Love?
Satan offers Jesus a crown, if Jesus will only “worship” him, but the crown that he offers is really just a crown of thorns. Satan’s politics is one of fear, domination, coercion and violence, where might-makes-right and bigger is better. The net result is a world reduced to a few winners and a lot of losers. Jesus exposes Satan’s pyramid scheme and insists on a new kind of power—one that is perfected in weakness and is given away. The love of power is transformed into the power of love. This is God’s politics.

Temple: Religion of Sacrifice or Mercy?
Jesus is taken to the temple, which is the sacred center of Israel. The devil tempts Jesus to throw himself into a religious system built on the sacrifice of innocents. Jesus resists putting on a big show and, in doing so, reimagines the entire premise of religion itself. He resists a religion of sacrifice that needs a long line of victims to keep it going, with lots of theatrical blood and gore. Instead he opts for something way more simple, which is mercy. “I desire mercy not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). This is God’s religion.

The Lenten season is a time to sort out the narratives by which we live. It is a reminder that we are desperate for a faith that tells a better story and reimagines our world through a lens of abundance, of love, and of mercy—a world that reflects God’s very heart. This is the story that becomes fully visible when seen with Easter eyes.

Adapted from Chapter 7, Symbolic Universe, in Geography of Grace – Doing Theology from Below. Want to hear more? Listen to this audio excerpt: